What A Week!

Well the week started off with Travis' oldest brother, Dan, and family staying with us for two nights. So we had 4 adults and 7 kids all in our apartment. It was noisier than usual, but it was a lot of fun! I'm glad that we could just say to the kids, "Go play in the basement."

Here's Elora holding her cousin Jaci

I read "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" to the kids

Elora actually cuddled up with her uncle Dan

On Thursday before the 4th we drove up to Bedford, Wyoming to go camping for a Gough family reunion. This is a view on the way up. It was beautiful!

Here is a view of the sunset from our campsite:

I just LOVE this picture!! It shows the three of them just having a good time!

Travis couldn't let me miss the fun action
On the morning of the fourth, we went to a little parade that came back again, so we saw it twice. Max quite enjoyed himself:
Our group had a ton of kids there!
Elora didn't want to get off her chair very often, so she didn't get as much candy, but she didn't know the difference, she was having a great time!
We stayed in Wyoming until Sunday, got home and vegged, and then went to the Zoo the next day in Salt Lake for my niece, Emma's birthday!

We liked the giraffes, and we saw a baby one that was born in November

Max enjoyed himself most of the time in the stroller

Elora and Max in the stroller, what a fun day!

Elora riding the Rhinocerus

Elora was fascinated by the birds at the bird show

Emma and Aunt "Chicki" on the train

Max, me, and Elora on the train

What a fun week! Time to relax!

Tagged!

8 Things I am Passionate About:
The Gospel
My Family
Financial Peace
Childbirth
Art
Nature
Movies
Reading

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over Again and Never Get Sick of:
Home-Michael Buble
Realize-Colby Callait
Bubbly-Colby Callait
You Raise Me Up-Josh Groban
You Are So Beautiful-Louis Armstrong
You've Got a Friend-James Taylor
The Way You Look Tonight-Steve Tyrell
At the Beginning-Richard Marx and Donna Lewis

The Past 8 Books I Have Read:
The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program-Kathleen DesMaisons
Legacy-James Michener
No More Mondays-Dan Miller
The Glass Castle-Jeanette Wall (I don't reccommend it)
Three Cups of Tea-Greg Mortenson
The Book of Mormon
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-JK Rowling

8 Things I Say Often:
"Time Out!"
"Be nice to Max"
"Get off of Max"
"Eat your dinner"
"No, we're not going anywhere right now"
"Hi Max!"
"Since I made dinner, can you do the dishes? Please?"
"I Love You"

8 Things That Attract Me to a Friend:
Honesty
Makes me laugh
Lets me be right sometimes, but not afraid to tell me when I'm wrong
Understanding
Wants to do things with me
Cares about anything about me
Can have a conversation with
Is smart, at least a little, and willing to learn

8 Random Things About Me:
-I love sugar
-I enjoy balancing a checkbook, making a budget, and crunching numbers
-Box elder bugs are not my friends
-I like to spend time with people, but am perfectly content all by myself
-I fear that I might not be a successful artist sometime in my life
-I find joy in giving birth, I love it actually
-I would love to convince everyone that my way is the best, but I know that other people's ways are just fine
-I kissed a frog when I was a little girl

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:
Become a successful artist (make and sell my art)
Travel all over the world, near and far
Get a Masters degree.
Have a summer cottage by a lake
Go on at least one mission with Travis
Be able to give loads of money to those less fortunate than me
Learn to play the piano beyond picking out notes
Keep reading and learning

8 Things I Have Learned This Past Year:
You have to make an effort to make friends, you can't just wait for others to make the effort
I actually enjoy being a mother
Only I can change my attitude
It's important to build your relationships with your immediate family unit
That I can actually live and stay debt free
Trust in the Lord, He knows what's going on a lot better than me
That I want to help other women have the kind of birth they want, maybe even teach classes
That I love blogging!

People I Tag:
Catherine, Katie, Charity, and Julie

Family Pictures

Here's some cute family pictures that I had my friend take. She is doing very well with beginning her photography. Elora and Max didn't exactly want to cooperate too much though...

A little comparison...

Here is just a little comparison for you to enjoy, a little proof that we have kids who are "carbon copies" as one person put it...

Tyson Gough

This past weekend we went down to St. George for a little visit so we could go to a graveside burial for our nephew, Tyson Gough. Tyson is Jared and Kathy's son, and lived for an hour and a half after he was born. To read more about what happened, go to my other brother and sister-in-law's blog site here. So here are some pictures from the graveside burial, and you can read more about the service here. We were glad we could go down and support Jared and Kathy and the rest of the family. We were very touched by the spirit which we felt of Tyson, and are also thankful for the strength and example of Jared and Kathy. We love you guys! One thing that Jared said during the service which made an impression on me was that, "Sometimes we pray for a miracle we want, but we get the miracle that we need." That is so true. We don't know what Heavenly Father has in store for us, but whatever trials or anything we go through during life is meant for us. And we can get through it and learn from it and grow so much from the experiences we have in life.

Summer Fun

Elora had a lovely hairdo, and then started wrapping her baby blanket around her neck, I just thought it was so cute!

We gave Max a mohawk after his bath, and it actually stayed through the next morning!
Now here's a little comparison between our two kids. Here's Max at about 13 or 14 months:

And here's Elora at a little over a year:

Grandpa Gough came up for a couple nights to go a conference in Layton. Elora and Max loved having him around, especially to read to them. The next day after Grandpa left, Elora asked me, "Where's Grandpa?"

Every kid has to have a great spaghetti face picture, well, here's Max's:

We got a new toy a month or two ago, but haven't been able to use it much since it's been practically winter in summer. But it's been warmer lately, so we've been able to go on more bike rides. We absolutely LOVE our bike trailer.

And the rest of the pictures are just a fun day at the park...

Happy Fathers Day!

I just wanted to say a little about Travis, the father of our 2 kids. I am truly blessed to have such a great husband. He works full time working on cars, and goes to school full time. He wears himself out everyday all for us, his family. He truly loves me, Elora, and Max. He would do anything for us, and does everyday. He treats me like a queen and he finds time to play and enjoy and help out with the kids and even helps around the house happily. I'm sure glad I found such a great man to marry and to be with for eternity.

I love you Travis!